House to weigh censuring Rep. Jamaal Bowman for falsely pulling fire alarm

Washington — Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York is the latest House Democrat to face the prospect of censure, with a top Republican forcing a vote on a measure to reprimand him for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol Hill office building.

Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the secretary of the House Republican Conference, introduced a privileged resolution on Tuesday to censure Bowman for pulling an alarm before a last-minute vote to fund the government in September. The privileged nature of the measure forces a vote on it within two legislative days, giving the House until Thursday to act on it. 

The House is expected to vote on a Democratic motion to table the resolution on Wednesday afternoon, which would effectively kill it if successful. If the motion to table fails, a vote on the censure motion itself is expected to be postponed until a later date. Censure is type of a formal reprimand by the House for conduct that falls short of warranting expulsion.

The New York lawmaker pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in late October. He agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation for activating the fire alarm that led to the office building’s evacuation. Bowman said he was “rushing to make” the vote when he triggered the alarm. Footage of the incident was caught by a security camera.

“Representative Bowman forced the evacuation of the Cannon House Office Building and disrupted the work of the Congress as a vote was underway on the floor of the House,” McClain’s resolution said. 

The House Ethics Committee declined last month to open an investigation into Bowman over the matter. 

Censure motions have become more frequent in recent years with the increasing polarization of Congress. They typically don’t advance to a floor vote, but it’s becoming more common as lawmakers seek to fast-track them by introducing them as privileged. 

Two Democrats have been censured this year. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib was censured in a bipartisan vote in November after her defense of a rallying cry that is widely regarded as calling for the elimination of Israel. Republicans voted to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff in June for his role in congressional investigations of former President Donald Trump.